Latoya Grindley, Features Writer

DSP Cornwall 'Bigga' Ford says car parts recovered from thieves are taking up precious office space at the Flying Squad headquarters in Kingston.

The compound of the Flying Squad police headquarters in Kingston is jammed with recovered stolen vehicles. There are so many cars lining the entrance of the station that it looks more like the venue of a function.

The recovered vehicles are causing clutter and congestion. When the Gleaner team visited the location, police personnel were seen reversing their cars in order to allow other police going on operations to leave the compound. One police officer who was about to enter the premises had to reverse on to the main road to allow the patrol team to leave.

Vehicles of all makes, models and conditions are being stored at the police station and according to the head of the Flying Squad, Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Cornwall 'Bigga' Ford, some of the vehicles have been there for years. He said that at present, there are more than 60 recovered motor vehicles on the compound.

Haven for rats

Due to the lack of parking space visitors to the station and even employees often resort to parking on the sidewalk. DSP Ford said that the clutter has caused a serious rat infestation which has damaged many of the vehicles. One police officer said that his personal vehicle, which was parked on the premises while he was out of office for a while became a haven for rats.

"I tell you, whole heap of rats in the car all in the bonnet and they cut the wires. When I turn on the car engine is pure rat fly out of the fan which was where they made their nest."

The congestion caused by these recovered stolen vehicles is not unique to the Flying Squad, as checks across the Corporate Area revealed that it is a common problem.

Arrangements with garages

Deputy Superintendent Delroy Hewitt, head of operations of Kingston West police, said that to help curb the problem of inadequate parking space, some arrangements had to be made with a nearby garage to store the vehicles. Some police stations have also had to resort to asking for assistance from other stations.

DSP Ford said one way of solving the problem is to have a place to store these vehicles. "Find a central place, fence it up and have proper security personnel to secure the lot," he said.

The issue of overcrowding has been compounded by the fact that the owners of most of these vehicles have not been identified and for DSP Ford, this is a critical factor. "Six months from the time the vehicle is stolen there is sometimes a settlement between the insurance company and the vehicle owner, so when it is recovered by the police, the owner has no more interest in the vehicle because they are already compensated."

The deputy superintendent said the longer the vehicles stay at the police stations the more they become prone to be scrapped and damaged, ultimately changing the features of the vehicles from when they were first recovered. "It's a headache. When we take photos of the vehicles, when we get them, and then down the road when we take pictures again of the same vehicles, things are missing. The parts are missing, I mean everybody walks into the station, people can just take off parts especially if it's been parked for a while. And then you have the rats now who build nests in the vehicles causing their own damage."

Some of the cars on the Flying Squad compound were handed over to the Government following court cases. However, DSP Ford said that they remain in the possession of the police without any real purpose and are just taking up space.

"Sometimes when the vehicles are forfeited to the Government, nothing happens. I mean, some arrangements could be made to use the vehicles, auction or sell them out and buy new vehicles for the force or the said vehicles could also be given to other government departments. Combined, these vehicles value a lot."

Director of the Anti-Fraud Unit at the Insurance Association of Jamaica, Paul Davis, said it is often difficult to find the owners of vehicles, due to tampering. He said recovered stolen vehicles for the first six to seven months of this year numbered 500.

tampering

However, Mr. Davis said the police could only identify the owners of 100 of those vehicles. "For the other 400, nobody knows who the vehicles belong to and of the 500 vehicles, 94 per cent had the chassis number tampered with," he said.

Mr. Davis highlighted that plans are in the pipeline to have a designated storage facility for recovered stolen vehicles that are identified. "Originally, we wanted to do it before the end of 2007, but with 2008 rapidly approaching it might be within the first three months of 2008. The location has already been identified."

latoya.grindley@gleanerjm.com

Deputy Superintendent of Police, Cornwall 'Bigga' Ford, points to some of the recovered motor vehicles being stored at the Flying Squad headquarters in Kingston. - photos by Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer